Just a quick remark to say thanks Karl for doing all the leg work to bring these articles and insights to us. Left alone I think very few of us would be able to pull half as much together.
' The world today is witnessing incessant chaos and confusion, and one important reason is that some countries (America-pet mongrel vassals) believe might makes right and have opened a Pandora's Box marked the law of the jungle (Borrell) . . . . . . Without norms and standards, one may be at the table yesterday but end up on the menu tomorrow (Saddam Hussein- Gaddafi)'
I just listened to Annalena Baerbock (I have not lasted very long, I have to admit: https://youtu.be/LRbFPM36QUA?si=vS9JW9ETwzIGs70f) announcing that Putin is our enemy, while calling for the continuation of war, enforced from above, while comparing it to Wang Yi speech at the same forum, it is impossible not to see what we should be striving for: “Equal rights, equal opportunities and equal rules should become the basic principles of a multipolar world”.
There's only 1 country with its pathetic vassels who are causing the chaos in the World. Every rationaly thinking person knows this as a fact. They believe in the exceptionalism of themselves. The pathetic vassels are that obedient to their master, they've list all ability to make decisions for themselves. They go to Davos are given their tasks & follow them through to the letter. Regardless of the negatively it produces for the citizens they're supposed to be serving. Look at the vassels now, they can't make a rational argument, why they want the death & destruction to continue. But they do because it's not happening in their own countries. How is it these people have any authority? How are they in positions of power? We now know how they are, through USAID paid for propaganda & lies. Every single one of these WEF disciples should be held accountable for their crimes. Until they are, we won't move forward.
China trying to walk the tightrope and reasonable from their perspective I suppose but sooner or later they are going to have to take sides. As Len Deighton said in 'Funeral in Berlin', 'get off the wall or they'll run the barbed wire right through you'. It seems to me that while Russia does the 'heavy lifting' and pays the price, China is coining it in. Sooner or later, this situation will explode, the 'balance' can't last.
Vance speaking on AI and tech just shows old wine in new bottles. All the happy talk about the US embarking and turning a new leaf is more how to adjust a neo colonial strategy in the face of effective resistance. It's not so much Xi and Putin being fooled as the liberal classes in the global south thinking that a new era of peaceful co-existence is in the offing.
If the Davos crowd could actually wrap their heads around the idea of multipolarity and co-operation instead of competition, which I find highly doubtful, we could have such a wonderful world where we could all thrive. Wouldn't their enlightenment and its altruistic implications be preferable to continued pillaging and plundering?
Not only that, but if we could achieve this it would be a renaissance, in that with ordinary people having enough time, money and stability, the arts, sciences and philosophy would thrive.
How can people live up to their potential with so much instability and what does this deprive us of?
A tough pill for the 'America First' crowd to swallow.
Waiting for my Congress critters to stop writing me about the need for 'a strong America.' I'll believe it when I see serious cutting of the defense budget and shorting of defense industry stocks.
Norton’s explanation is 100% correct and is what I hinted at in an earlier article. Clearly, Trump/Rubio reject international law so the Outlaw US Empire will continue. Hopefully, Europe was insulted enough and Trump is ego-driven enough for him to completely withdraw the Empire from NATO which ought to cause its implosion, which will effectively remove Europe as an ally, although the UK will remain.
Yes, agree it was useful. The USA needs to grow up and cease fearing the Other so damn badly. It’s like we have a hate-based society where it’s almost impossible to envision a situation where, as my wife constantly says: Why can’t we all get along?!?
The speech by Wang Yi at the Munich Security Council is most notable for Wang's insistence of the necessity of the United Nations for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous multipolar world. He notes how 'Development' has proven wonderful for China's remarkable growth in many spheres, including alternative energy. China offers an attractive growth model for the world's peoples, including the industrialized and deindustrialized West.
However, the bitter fruits of decades of anti-China propaganda will always stain China's face in the world. People will say, "China is great, but she is guilty of geonociding Uyghurs and oppressing Tibetans while aggressing against the Taiwanese, so that those who should care will turn their backs. This was the point of these lies propagated by Western media all along.
Yes, as I just replied to Acco, the reality of past actions and why they were engaged in are all part of the roots of the conflict since its 20th Century roots all begin with the Russian Revolution and the massive knee-jerk response to both Socialism and Communism, which was to wage unending war on both since both threatened the elite’s ability to live off their rent-seeking. And the challenge to that began in the mid 1800s, with the ancien regime’s reaction beginning in the early 1880s.
The speech by Wang Yi at the Munich Security Council is most notable for Wang's insistence of the necessity of the United Nations for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous multipolar world. He notes how 'Development' has proven wonderful for China's remarkable growth in many spheres, including alternative energy. China offers an attractive growth model for the world's peoples, including the industrialized and deindustrialized West.
However, the bitter fruits of decades of anti-China propaganda will always stain China's face in the world. People will say, "China is great, but she is guilty of geonociding Uyghurs and oppressing Tibetans while aggressing against the Taiwanese, so that those who should care will turn their backs. This was the point of these lies propagated by Western media all along.
"Respect for all countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity should mean support for China’s complete reunification."
Here we are, back to the central issue the lawyers fudged with the UN Charter -- the tension between a country's sovereignty within its current borders versus peoples within those borders having the right to self-determination. Which of those reasonable but incompatible principles takes priority?
The proxy war in the Ukraine is really about whether Russian-speaking citizens of the Ukraine had the right to self-determination -- Ukraine said no, and hence there is war. What about the citizens of Taiwan? China talks a good game about respect for sovereignty ... but clearly that does not include giving the residents of Taiwan the opportunity for self-determination. At the end of the day, international affairs are still about power -- regardless of fine words about the UN and "international law".
What must people in Taiwan be thinking as they watch the Euros, NATO, and the US lose interest in the Ukraine. Can Taiwan count on the same people to move half-way around the world to defend them from much bigger, much closer China? One of the ramifications of the situation in the Ukraine may be that the Taiwanese start to think about initiating serious negotiations with China about their future status. Jaw, jaw rather than war, war.
Just a quick remark to say thanks Karl for doing all the leg work to bring these articles and insights to us. Left alone I think very few of us would be able to pull half as much together.
Cheers!
"Without norms and standards, one may be at the table yesterday but end up on the menu tomorrow"
This reminds me of the following statement by former US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken:
"if you’re not at the table in the international system, you’re going to be on the menu"
I suppose the reference to it was intended.
Very much so, I immediately recalled Blinken's craven comment as I'm sure Wang's audience did.
' The world today is witnessing incessant chaos and confusion, and one important reason is that some countries (America-pet mongrel vassals) believe might makes right and have opened a Pandora's Box marked the law of the jungle (Borrell) . . . . . . Without norms and standards, one may be at the table yesterday but end up on the menu tomorrow (Saddam Hussein- Gaddafi)'
I just listened to Annalena Baerbock (I have not lasted very long, I have to admit: https://youtu.be/LRbFPM36QUA?si=vS9JW9ETwzIGs70f) announcing that Putin is our enemy, while calling for the continuation of war, enforced from above, while comparing it to Wang Yi speech at the same forum, it is impossible not to see what we should be striving for: “Equal rights, equal opportunities and equal rules should become the basic principles of a multipolar world”.
There's only 1 country with its pathetic vassels who are causing the chaos in the World. Every rationaly thinking person knows this as a fact. They believe in the exceptionalism of themselves. The pathetic vassels are that obedient to their master, they've list all ability to make decisions for themselves. They go to Davos are given their tasks & follow them through to the letter. Regardless of the negatively it produces for the citizens they're supposed to be serving. Look at the vassels now, they can't make a rational argument, why they want the death & destruction to continue. But they do because it's not happening in their own countries. How is it these people have any authority? How are they in positions of power? We now know how they are, through USAID paid for propaganda & lies. Every single one of these WEF disciples should be held accountable for their crimes. Until they are, we won't move forward.
Mr Jaishankar had some very pertinent remarks at the MSC as well regarding the EU's double standards.
China trying to walk the tightrope and reasonable from their perspective I suppose but sooner or later they are going to have to take sides. As Len Deighton said in 'Funeral in Berlin', 'get off the wall or they'll run the barbed wire right through you'. It seems to me that while Russia does the 'heavy lifting' and pays the price, China is coining it in. Sooner or later, this situation will explode, the 'balance' can't last.
IMO, Xi and Putin discuss and plan together and have kept a Good Cop/Bad Cop exterior look ongoing since 2022. This piece by Larry Johnson details just how important China’s rare earth embargo is, https://sonar21.com/ceasefire-with-palestine-holds-china-creates-big-problem-for-us-defense-industry/
Vance speaking on AI and tech just shows old wine in new bottles. All the happy talk about the US embarking and turning a new leaf is more how to adjust a neo colonial strategy in the face of effective resistance. It's not so much Xi and Putin being fooled as the liberal classes in the global south thinking that a new era of peaceful co-existence is in the offing.
The US entered WWII to deny Japan access to Oil.
FDR chocked oil supplies to Japan so its militarists decided to go after Indonesia where the oil was.
If the Davos crowd could actually wrap their heads around the idea of multipolarity and co-operation instead of competition, which I find highly doubtful, we could have such a wonderful world where we could all thrive. Wouldn't their enlightenment and its altruistic implications be preferable to continued pillaging and plundering?
Not only that, but if we could achieve this it would be a renaissance, in that with ordinary people having enough time, money and stability, the arts, sciences and philosophy would thrive.
How can people live up to their potential with so much instability and what does this deprive us of?
Yes, Neoliberalism must die and be replaced by Win-Win Harmony.
A tough pill for the 'America First' crowd to swallow.
Waiting for my Congress critters to stop writing me about the need for 'a strong America.' I'll believe it when I see serious cutting of the defense budget and shorting of defense industry stocks.
Ben Norton joins in - contrasting Yi and Rubio on their takes on 'multi-polarity
What is a 'multipolar' world? China says equality; Trump & Marco Rubio say imperial rivalry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg0Vur0SI-8 [25 mins
Norton’s explanation is 100% correct and is what I hinted at in an earlier article. Clearly, Trump/Rubio reject international law so the Outlaw US Empire will continue. Hopefully, Europe was insulted enough and Trump is ego-driven enough for him to completely withdraw the Empire from NATO which ought to cause its implosion, which will effectively remove Europe as an ally, although the UK will remain.
Failed imperialists of a dying Empire have a hard time dealing with that reality. Such reality is very hard on egoists like them.
Stephen Roach on US-China trade war - Useful
[ex] Morgan Stanley Economist Reveals Shocking SECRET About China Trade War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwlrS0p9jL8 [30 mins
Yes, agree it was useful. The USA needs to grow up and cease fearing the Other so damn badly. It’s like we have a hate-based society where it’s almost impossible to envision a situation where, as my wife constantly says: Why can’t we all get along?!?
The speech by Wang Yi at the Munich Security Council is most notable for Wang's insistence of the necessity of the United Nations for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous multipolar world. He notes how 'Development' has proven wonderful for China's remarkable growth in many spheres, including alternative energy. China offers an attractive growth model for the world's peoples, including the industrialized and deindustrialized West.
However, the bitter fruits of decades of anti-China propaganda will always stain China's face in the world. People will say, "China is great, but she is guilty of geonociding Uyghurs and oppressing Tibetans while aggressing against the Taiwanese, so that those who should care will turn their backs. This was the point of these lies propagated by Western media all along.
Yes, as I just replied to Acco, the reality of past actions and why they were engaged in are all part of the roots of the conflict since its 20th Century roots all begin with the Russian Revolution and the massive knee-jerk response to both Socialism and Communism, which was to wage unending war on both since both threatened the elite’s ability to live off their rent-seeking. And the challenge to that began in the mid 1800s, with the ancien regime’s reaction beginning in the early 1880s.
The speech by Wang Yi at the Munich Security Council is most notable for Wang's insistence of the necessity of the United Nations for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous multipolar world. He notes how 'Development' has proven wonderful for China's remarkable growth in many spheres, including alternative energy. China offers an attractive growth model for the world's peoples, including the industrialized and deindustrialized West.
However, the bitter fruits of decades of anti-China propaganda will always stain China's face in the world. People will say, "China is great, but she is guilty of geonociding Uyghurs and oppressing Tibetans while aggressing against the Taiwanese, so that those who should care will turn their backs. This was the point of these lies propagated by Western media all along.
"Respect for all countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity should mean support for China’s complete reunification."
Here we are, back to the central issue the lawyers fudged with the UN Charter -- the tension between a country's sovereignty within its current borders versus peoples within those borders having the right to self-determination. Which of those reasonable but incompatible principles takes priority?
The proxy war in the Ukraine is really about whether Russian-speaking citizens of the Ukraine had the right to self-determination -- Ukraine said no, and hence there is war. What about the citizens of Taiwan? China talks a good game about respect for sovereignty ... but clearly that does not include giving the residents of Taiwan the opportunity for self-determination. At the end of the day, international affairs are still about power -- regardless of fine words about the UN and "international law".
What must people in Taiwan be thinking as they watch the Euros, NATO, and the US lose interest in the Ukraine. Can Taiwan count on the same people to move half-way around the world to defend them from much bigger, much closer China? One of the ramifications of the situation in the Ukraine may be that the Taiwanese start to think about initiating serious negotiations with China about their future status. Jaw, jaw rather than war, war.